“In the previous days, 2 people in Manny’s inner circle have mentioned that Rays have shown some interest in him. This could be completely unfounded, but it is an interesting possibility.”

Yes, please.

But let’s temper our excitement for a second. Manny is not the same player he was in Boston. Since his suspension for PEDs in the first-half of the 2009 season, his offensive production has declined…

The big decline is in the power numbers. Prior to the suspension, Manny was hitting a home run once every 17.1 plate appearances. Since the suspension, Manny is only hitting a home run once every 28.7 plate appearances.

Those are still strong numbers, and would represent an improvement over what the Rays used at DH last year. But if Manny does sign with the Rays, he won’t be a savior either.

We most likely cant afford Thome and with Lee, LaRoche and most other quality hitters gone we need to take a chance on Manny. Give him an incentive laden contract and see what happens. Even Manny at 75% of his old self is a better hitter than Joyce, Johnson, Breignac, Rodriguez, Upton, Jaso, etc. etc.

Even before we traded Garza, we were only on the hook for $38M in salary this year. What do you mean we can't afford Thome? Now we're sitting at about $33M, so how can we not afford Guerrero or Thome for DH as well as Balfour and possibly even Soriano if we are really going to spend in the upper $50M range? I think the Rays are cheaping out this year - all signs point to a payroll much lower than Friedman's estimate of "below $60M" that we heard toward the end of last season. I guess $33M is technically below $60M so maybe that's what he meant! Whether they will increase significantly in 2012 is anyone's guess.

The majority of his pre-suspension stats were compiled in Fenway Park, and the majority of his post-suspension stats were compiled in Dodger Stadium. This doesn't account for all of the difference, but it goes a long way.